No, unfortunately Everett didn’t help with my lawn care. He was a fastidious gardener, with neatly trimmed shrubbery and a summer full of impatiens in his back yard. What he did do was speak often and wistfully about the Philippine couple who had owned the house before me. He used to tell me about how beautiful the yard was when they lived there.

As a single mother, and one not very schooled in yard care, the best I could do was to keep the lawn mowed when it got tall enough to embarrass me. Which was quite a bit higher than Everett’s lawn. Nonetheless, he never criticized my yard, merely reminisced about that old owner.

But much to his delight, in 1986 I began to date the man who became my husband in 1988. Charlie loves yard work, and even when we dated the yard improved. But true joy came to Everett when, after our marriage, Charlie moved into our house. He immediately began feeding the shrubs, trimming the hedge, watering(why–it just makes it grow faster was my viewpoint)the lawn, cleaning out the walks, edging the grass and removing dandelions(which I always thought were kind of pretty.)

Needless to say, Charlie and Everett became fast friends. Everett continually congratulated me on my choice of men, not the least because of his expertise in the yard. Now Everett could sit in his living room and look across the street at a yard, he now declared, “was even nicer than years before!”